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1500 BCE
Sundial
A sundial is an instrument showing the time by the shadow of a pointer cast by the sun onto a plate marked with the hours of the day. -
Slide Rule
a ruler with a sliding central strip, marked with logarithmic scales and used for making rapid calculations, especially multiplication and division. -
Charle Babbage
English mathematician, inventor, and pioneer of machine computing. With Ada Lovelace, he designed a mechanical computer that would perform calculations and print the results, but he was unable to complete it during his lifetime. -
Ada Lovelace
English mathematician; full name Augusta Ada King Lovelace. The daughter of Lord Byron, she worked with Charles Babbage on his “analytical engine,” a mechanical computer. The Ada standardized computer language was named for her in 1980. -
Mechanical Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. It consists of a set of input terminals for single or multiple control signals and a set of operating contact terminals. -
Grace Hopper
She taught mathematics at Vassar College 1931–44 before serving in the US Navy 1943–86, where she became the highest ranked female officer. From 1959 until 1971, she worked as a computer programmer for the Sperry Rand Corporation. -
IBM
International Business Machines, a leading US computer manufacturer. -
Alan Turning
He developed the concept of a theoretical computing machine and carried out important code-breaking work during World War II. He also investigated artificial intelligence. -
Punch Cards
a card perforated according to a code, for controlling the operation of a machine, used in voting machines and formerly in programming and entering data into computers. -
Harvard Mark I
The Harvard Mark 1 was an early electromechanical computer. It used punched tape and a series of switches and drive shafts to automatically perform calculations -
Harvard Mark II
The Harvard Mark II, also known as the Aiken Relay Calculator, was an electromechanical computer built under the direction of Howard Aiken at Harvard University, completed in 1947 -
Transistor
a semiconductor device with three connections, capable of amplification in addition to rectification. -
Steve Wozniak
US computer entrepreneur. He co-founded the Apple computer company in 1976 with Steve Jobs and helped to lead it until 1981 and again from 1983 until 1985. -
Moore's Law
the principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, as a result of increases in the number of transistors a microchip can contain -
GUI
a visual way of interacting with a computer using items such as windows, icons, and menus, used by most modern operating systems. -
Microcomputer
a small computer that contains a microprocessor as its central processor. -
Personal Computer
a computer designed for use by one person at a time. -
Apple 1
The Apple-1 computer consisted of a single motherboard, with about 60 chips, fully pre-assembled. At the time, computers did not come assembled and consisted of multiple circuit boards. -
VisiCalc
The first electronic spreadsheet. Introduced in 1978 for the Apple II, VisiCalc was conceived by Harvard student Dan Bricklin and programmed by his friend Bob Frankston. -
Windows
a computer operating system with a graphical user interface.